Subject: Hello and RFI
Date: Jul 19 15:00:36 2002
From: Shantanu Phukan - phukan at email.unc.edu


Hello Tweeters members:
I am a North Carolina based birder and am planning a trip to Washington
and British Columbia during the first two weeks of August. I spent a
summer in Seattle about a decade ago but at that time only birded very
desultorily; this, by contrast, will be a much more focussed birding trip
and I have rather a lage list of target irds. I also have Wahl and
Paulsen's guide but am afraid that it may be a little outdated. Can any
Tweeters recommend any other guides, especially to inland areas--I already
know about Morse's guide and am planning to get it but it only covers
coastal areas.
Secondly, I have a whole host of specific questions about specific target
birds. I am wondering if I should post these questions to the Tweeters
discussion group as a whole or if I should correspond with individual
members who live and specialize in special areas of the state.
Thirdly, if you in Washington think July is the doldrums you should just
visit the humid south east where at this time of year the air is a thick
murky syrup and even the mockingbirds seem reluctant to sing. The only
saving grace is that post breeding White Ibises and Wood Storks start
straying north, and we even have a White Faced Ibis gracing our shores--a
first for the state. And, oh yes, the Painted Buntings are still
singing. Such are the flimsy compensations for us who eke out our lives
without the bracing presence of Mt Rainier.
Shantanu Phukan

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SHANTANU PHUKAN
Lecturer in Urdu-Hindi & Indian Literature
University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Curriculum in Asian Studies
Alumni Hall 413C
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599

phukan at email.unc.edu
919-962-6825
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